This post is rather insensitive and over-generalizing and even ethnocentric racist, and I can imagine if it said "Cheap Products Made in India" or "Cheap Products Made in Israel" or "Women" or "Catholics" how others would react.
You're basically referring to coastal China, and largely referring to megapolis manufacturing centers of Dalian, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuzi, though there are others. While it's perfectly understandable that China is in a slower industrializing phase cycle that needs to catch up to Taiwan's levels, it is making difficult leaps toward quality standards and acceptable labor practices to catch up. You're kicking a fledgling while it's gaining its bearings, and worse of all, using today's products to stymie tomorrow's potential by labeling it crap. Did your sixth-grade child struggle to barely understand algebra, well he's a hopeless moron, he should have been performing advanced calculus equations.
From what I've seen, the average worker and company sacrifices six-day 70+ hour work weeks and risks shipment rejects to meet Western standards at a time when they're lurching their entire country out of poverty. From where they were 15 years ago to where they are now, they've made tremendous strides in higher education, hands-on training, and learning multiple Western languages to meet your needs as the demanding consumer. There were only a few stellar American colleagues who were able to tackle the Chinese language, even though theoretically it should be as hard to learn that language as it is for them to learn yours.
Only a naive fool would think that today's intricate supply chain would allow the whole design-to-product cycle was all in one place; and a lot of our nation's top train students are going there to train locals and to build businesses, so there is a reverse "brain drain" happening. Your iPods, your Macs, your haute couture clutch, your Canon camera, your Columbia fleecewear, your fiber optics, your Toshiba flatscreen, your Dell laptop, your designer Beckham jeans were all assembled or partly made in China, and yes... Puma and Nike shoes too. While I have issues with Chinese people and its effect on environment, I accept that it's an evolving process they're taking strides to improve upon. It's not "them" versus "us" but a more global perspective that developing countries have people who are trying to serve your needs crossing gaping cultural and geographic barriers
I secretly hope they succeed in globalization, in fact, with such subtlety so that the average Westerner cannot even perceive the difference that the product was conceived, designed, manufactured, labeled, and shipped from a symphony of collaboration in Asia. I've hired Europeans to do jobs for me, and lemme tell you, I will never hire another Spaniard again. Expensive and delayed beyond frustration.
And I hope we crack the whip on America's youth so that they become industrious, frugal and tenacious too...otherwise, you are going to see North America's top universities and revered institutions and elite communities being filled with hard working foreigners who deserve advancement. There's a reason why top Canadian school UBC is derided as "University of a Billion Chinese" and Stanford, MIT, Harvard has to cap enrollment of Indians and those of Arabic-descent, why NASA is full of Asian-American engineers, and why it is no longer unusual to find Chinese talent in your professional class of lawyers, doctors, business owners, and in America's most private mansion communities.
I agree on not buying the used appliances for the most part. A good alternative is to check places like home depot or lowes for floor model sales or "damaged", but new, appliances.
I got a brand new stainless GE refridgeratror that was retailing for $2000 for $600 at home depot. It has a little dent in the front.
Washing machine - big dent in the front, $100. New was about $250. It works great.
I have a problem though. Sometimes I cannot resist the floor model even if it is something i don't need just because it is a good deal.
Obviously, a support system of friends and family can be worth a lot. In some situations, the value of that can outweigh higher costs of living.
I wasn't suggesting any particular strategy. I was trying to point out that:
Many people rule out whole categories of strategies without even considering them.
Even most poor people are rich by historical standards. (Admittedly, that's kind of obvious.)
It's hard even to have a conversation about the topic, because people have strong opinions--and strong emotions--about any particular strategy people might follow.
if you get your woodcutting level up to 60 you can sell yews which sell for 700 each roughly.. once you get to 75 you can cut mages
and have your full dragon in no time
The main reasons we loose sleep are: Unresolved stress, being too busy, too much caffeine, not enough exercise, too much evening light (TV, computers, indoor and outdoor lights), not enough morning light.
It may be a sobering reminder that the ethnic minorities that are rated most wealthy in American capitalist society are: Jewish-, Japanese-, Polish-, Chinese-, Indian- and Italian-Americans, in that order. Look around the expensive neighborhoods and private clubs, or top academic institutions. All my interactions with these subcultures identify the above habits, and the Jewish to an even more disciplined focus. These are worldwide habits toward money that have made them targets of ridicule, and even persecution, but the accumulation of individual wealth when not hindered by a corrupt and repressive system.
I'll add another:
HEALTHY TO BORDERLINE OBSESSIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MONEY OVER TIGHT-KNIT FAMILY GATHERINGS. Many American subcultures find this crass but as young children, we are often told to earn pocket-money rather than accept allowances, made to understand long-term investments and pay-offs (education in a profession, training, running a business,) discussing about property and real estate, and driven to compete with one another. Sometimes it could be funny, as Chinese people hoard those little ketchup packets or napkins by the drawer-full, but carefully choose a single big-ticket status symbol like a McMansion, haggled wisely of course. By junior high, I found that compared to most peers, my Chinese-American friends were more sophisticated in understanding tax breaks, deductibles, insurance benefits, refurbished items, and the value-added concept, even if they were studying to be professionals and not merchants. It's not "cool" but there you have it.
SWAP WITH FRIENDS, SELL IT HIGHER TO SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW.
I had a neighbor whose parents indulged him with every new toy, whether or not we had the same thing. (My parents told us to invite him over often and share his toy.) Another neighbor who lavished snacks of every variety. (My parents made us plant fruit trees and eat from it...and then sell the extra fruits to the neighbors.) When we went to their friends' home, we kids had to help wash their cars, hoe the garden, clean their home for free... and their kids helped us paint the fence, walk the dog, etc. With close friends, we traded board games, shared carpools, and swapped books to reduce our costs. With strangers, we sold what they wanted: sold sandwiches at school, sold ice-pops, sold recycled bottles. It took me twenty years to realize that in fact our house was the most expensive one on the block and my parents were well-off, it certainly didn't feel like it!!
NEVER OVERBURDEN YOUR CIRCLE OF TRUST, REAL MONEY COMES FROM OUTSIDE. Chinese modesty does not allow children to simply accept money from a family member without much protest, insistence that we do not deserve it, and an offer to reciprocate or pay-back the generosity with a promise to wisely put that money away for a real need. Borrowed money absolutely must be returned, sometimes with the concept of interest (though the lender-family/friend should be modest to wave away such a thought.) The idea is that legitimate money is earned not from parents/own friends but from the "outside" world. This seems ethnocentric, but it seems that Chinese culture is quite open to befriending those who have similar money habits (note: Jewish, Indian, etc.)
IT'S MATH, MY FRIEND
There's rarely a traditional Chinese family that will not stress academic achievement, particularly competence in the sciences, engineering, and maths. Unlike convention, Chinese subculture sees its mastery as a product of discipline and dogged effort, not a "inborn talent." Actually, besides a sharpened logic process, facility with numbers results in a culture that is more likely to tackle savings, complex tax break-downs, informed financial investments, and payback more shrewdly than the math flunk-out who never liked hard, real data to begin with.
...I guess it's no surprise. A disproportionate number of us deftly find friends who share the same values. By my own admittance for the sake of this blog, my best friends will be Jewish-Russian, Jewish-Mexican, Japanese-Chinese, Indian, Polish-American... it just turned out this way.
PS. nowadays salary isn't as much of a casual conversation topic in the most capitalist zones of China, as the wealth gap becomes more apparent that info causes resentment or envy. Word gets around though. Within one's own family, however, it becomes a point of reference and competition marker.
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) is part of AmeriCorps now, and the actual website is the same as the AmeriCorps site. I'm not sure what that link you've got with VISTA in this post is, but it's NOT the Volunteer in Service to America program's site.
To begin with, there's a ton of articles on the internet that explain ways people sell counterfeit items and make astronomically huge amounts of money. Let's say, selling counterfeit art???
We're Jewish and most of our family gives money as gifts. For the holidays, sometimes we also get gift cards to stores that we frequent (Trader Joe's is popular...everyone needs food). For our wedding, we got mostly money. The gifts came at the shower.
I don't like the idea of sharing salaries. Even our parents and siblings don't know our exact salaries!! It's no one's business, really. Occasionally we share this information with friends who might be in the same field as us, because it's relevant, especially for companies that have pretty "set" salary tiers...it's always nice to know what to expect in terms of salary if you switch companies.
To me, sharing salaries invites opinions and/or expectations, especially since we like to save and so many others like to spend. How many times have you heard someone gripe about feeling that someone is stingy on a gift or just doesn't like to spend their money? Just the other day I was reading an advice column with a woman ("little sis") complaining about how generous she'd been with her nephew, but her "big sister" gives inexpensive gifts even though big sis's family is "well off". So maybe the "well off" sister feels it's more important to save, but she's judged for not giving expensive gifts, since the other sister deems her "able to afford it". If little sis didn't know big sis's salary, she might just assume that's all big sis could afford and then maybe even adjust her own giving accordingly, right?
My husband's coworkers used to call him "moldy money" because he wasn't in the habit of eating out at lunch (unless it was a birthday or special occasion) and he drove a 7 year old car. One of the higher ups atually commented, "We pay you enough. Why don't you get a new car?" even though his car only broke down once while working there and he had reliable back up transportation (my car) so it didn't interfere with his job duties.
When my hubbie and I first shacked up we rented a place for $275 a month. We had no furniture except for a bed and dresser, so the living room could be politely described as barren. We had no car. We had no phone. We had no appliances except for the stove and frig. We also didn't have heat or air. What we had were lots and lots of potatoes - mostly fried and sometimes with an onion. We didn't have to walk to school, up hill, in the snow, both ways though. We were lucky like that.
Over time we've managed some furniture, a car, and even a phone, though I hate it and rarely answer it. So, don't bother calling. My point is that I get that we *could* live in misery to sock away cash, but I much prefer my current creature comforts admittedly afforded to us debt-free by years of denial. Many days I thought about the regret I would feel if I died cold.
I might be a hard ass and point out that people could apply the 1950s model of misery. I've done it including a 6 mo stint with the in-laws. What I don't get is suggesting an expensive move across country where the cost of living is lower, and perhaps the standard of living as well. These places usually have depressed economies that can't support their current residents. Would you really leave your family, friends, support systems and all that is familiar to live in a county that only recently was routed for 911 service but didn't yet have telephone service?
I believe the best return you can get for your own time and work is to build you own home. The returns are well above any returns you can achieve in other investments of time and money. Doing this removes that 800 pound gorilla that exists in so many peoples lives, The Mortgage.
While I applaud everyones efforts to save with food shopping, etc. I see this as rearranging the deck chairs while the real project is to fix the gapping hole in the financial ship, that big fat mortgage payment.
Building your own home is to me the true shortcut to financial and personal freedom. Channel your money and personal time and effort to this goal first, and then you have many extra resources to devote to the other important parts of your life.
Regarding mattresses...I've never really understood this. I mean, we all sleep in hotels...who knows what's been done there? Indeed, it feels like the chance of creepy things going on is greater in hotels, especially because people don't have to worry that they're crudding up their own beds.
I sleep on a used mattress, and the cost is like 100x lower because people get so creeped out by it. I guess that's just me though. I couldn't afford a nice bed otherwise...I'd rather sleep on something that's slightly disturbing than something that's horribly uncomfortable.
Writers don't see money from library books or used books. Musicians don't see money from used CDs. Seamsters (a totally made up word intended to be non-gender specific) don't see money from used clothes. Buying used will always cut someone off from a potential source of income. OTOH, a whole new group of typically non-corporate local folks have a new source of income from their used items. Buying new also begs the question of what should happen with old games people don't want any longer but still work?
I'm glad you posted though. In spite of my slanted comment, I've been struggling with this ethical question since college.
I don't really have anywhere to brew the ale right now, space is a major issue in our current tiny home. But, it's something I desperately want to try. A good friend of mine brews his own beers and they rock. I also went to a beer convention and tasted some amazing Bourbon Stouts. One day, the Paul Michael brewery will be open. One day...
Has anyone tried equitygenie? I looked at the UFF software, and the program appears to be great, but I can't see paying the $3500.00 cost if the other less expensive programs work the same way? Any list of other comparable software and reviews?
No one has mentioned the possibility of brewing your own. If you are like me eventually you will be able to brew beers and ales that you prefer over most brands.
The cost and enviromental benefits are fabulous.
I can brew a 5 gallon batch (50, 12oz bottles or over two cases) for approximately $15 or less. I have spent less than $250 on equipment and I am developing a terrific appreciation and understanding of beers and ales from this hobby.
Here are the ingredients and costs:
1. Malted barley- milled it will cost you anywhere from $.60 to $2.00 per pound- depending on the recipe you may need 6 to 15 pounds.
2. Hops- well these have gotten quite expensive lately but certainly last year you could buy them for $10 a pound or about $.65 an oz and you may use anywhere from 1.5 to 6 oz. They now are costing in the $2./ oz range, but the price will come down with the next crop.
3. Water- you have that- it may need a little conditioning- a complex subject, but my tap water works fine- I add a bit of Calcium Sulfate for hardness, but that cost about $.20 or less for a tablespoon.
4. Yeast: this miraculous micro-organism will turn the fermentable sugars into alcohol and flavors. You can get packet yeast for $2.00 or get the specialized Wyeast packets or White Labs vials for about $6- but you can pitch it several times and get 20 gallons out of a single vial- Then too if you live near a brew pub they may even give you yeast.
Equipment is a mashing vessel, a 6 gallon or large SS pot, a cook stove, and a glass carboy or bucket fermentation vessel. Recycle you bottles or get the re-usable Golsch-type bottles and brew away.
You are recycling bottles, using only the shipping/energy costs of the hops and grains. Supporting agriculture and maltsters. Some resources are at www.beertown.org- site of the American Homebrewers Association.
Cheers
This caught my eye because I just wrote about how I was taken advantage of by a debt management scam. I think you have a great list of tips to help find legitimate help. Wish I would have read this years ago!
Most of my nice leather shoes and boots were purchased at garage sales/thrift stores, no problem. I don't even look at new ones. And the best clothes dryer I ever had was a $15 used gas one that lasted years. Since my goal is to spend almost nothing on entertainment, I don't keep up with the Jones' regarding electronic stuff, meaning I have old radios, TV's, VCRs that still work fine. I'd never buy furniture new again for sure.
This post is rather insensitive and over-generalizing and even ethnocentric racist, and I can imagine if it said "Cheap Products Made in India" or "Cheap Products Made in Israel" or "Women" or "Catholics" how others would react.
You're basically referring to coastal China, and largely referring to megapolis manufacturing centers of Dalian, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuzi, though there are others. While it's perfectly understandable that China is in a slower industrializing phase cycle that needs to catch up to Taiwan's levels, it is making difficult leaps toward quality standards and acceptable labor practices to catch up. You're kicking a fledgling while it's gaining its bearings, and worse of all, using today's products to stymie tomorrow's potential by labeling it crap. Did your sixth-grade child struggle to barely understand algebra, well he's a hopeless moron, he should have been performing advanced calculus equations.
From what I've seen, the average worker and company sacrifices six-day 70+ hour work weeks and risks shipment rejects to meet Western standards at a time when they're lurching their entire country out of poverty. From where they were 15 years ago to where they are now, they've made tremendous strides in higher education, hands-on training, and learning multiple Western languages to meet your needs as the demanding consumer. There were only a few stellar American colleagues who were able to tackle the Chinese language, even though theoretically it should be as hard to learn that language as it is for them to learn yours.
Only a naive fool would think that today's intricate supply chain would allow the whole design-to-product cycle was all in one place; and a lot of our nation's top train students are going there to train locals and to build businesses, so there is a reverse "brain drain" happening. Your iPods, your Macs, your haute couture clutch, your Canon camera, your Columbia fleecewear, your fiber optics, your Toshiba flatscreen, your Dell laptop, your designer Beckham jeans were all assembled or partly made in China, and yes... Puma and Nike shoes too. While I have issues with Chinese people and its effect on environment, I accept that it's an evolving process they're taking strides to improve upon. It's not "them" versus "us" but a more global perspective that developing countries have people who are trying to serve your needs crossing gaping cultural and geographic barriers
I secretly hope they succeed in globalization, in fact, with such subtlety so that the average Westerner cannot even perceive the difference that the product was conceived, designed, manufactured, labeled, and shipped from a symphony of collaboration in Asia. I've hired Europeans to do jobs for me, and lemme tell you, I will never hire another Spaniard again. Expensive and delayed beyond frustration.
And I hope we crack the whip on America's youth so that they become industrious, frugal and tenacious too...otherwise, you are going to see North America's top universities and revered institutions and elite communities being filled with hard working foreigners who deserve advancement. There's a reason why top Canadian school UBC is derided as "University of a Billion Chinese" and Stanford, MIT, Harvard has to cap enrollment of Indians and those of Arabic-descent, why NASA is full of Asian-American engineers, and why it is no longer unusual to find Chinese talent in your professional class of lawyers, doctors, business owners, and in America's most private mansion communities.
Thanks for catching that! That link wasn't the one I had originally had in my first draft, so I'm not sure what happened there. It has been fixed...
Linsey Knerl
“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Homer Simpson:
Wow, Mr. Burns, you're the richest man in the world! You own everything!
Mr. Burns:
Ah, yes, but I'd give it all away to have just a little bit more.
- The Simpsons
I agree on not buying the used appliances for the most part. A good alternative is to check places like home depot or lowes for floor model sales or "damaged", but new, appliances.
I got a brand new stainless GE refridgeratror that was retailing for $2000 for $600 at home depot. It has a little dent in the front.
Washing machine - big dent in the front, $100. New was about $250. It works great.
I have a problem though. Sometimes I cannot resist the floor model even if it is something i don't need just because it is a good deal.
Obviously, a support system of friends and family can be worth a lot. In some situations, the value of that can outweigh higher costs of living.
I wasn't suggesting any particular strategy. I was trying to point out that:
if you get your woodcutting level up to 60 you can sell yews which sell for 700 each roughly.. once you get to 75 you can cut mages
and have your full dragon in no time
"You can never get enough of what you don't really need to make you happy." - Eric Hoffer
I think that scam baiting is ok for those who understand the dangers and are prepared to take the risk.
In order to get the best quality sleep, daily exercise should be confined to mornings, afternoons and early evenings
The main reasons we loose sleep are: Unresolved stress, being too busy, too much caffeine, not enough exercise, too much evening light (TV, computers, indoor and outdoor lights), not enough morning light.
It may be a sobering reminder that the ethnic minorities that are rated most wealthy in American capitalist society are: Jewish-, Japanese-, Polish-, Chinese-, Indian- and Italian-Americans, in that order. Look around the expensive neighborhoods and private clubs, or top academic institutions. All my interactions with these subcultures identify the above habits, and the Jewish to an even more disciplined focus. These are worldwide habits toward money that have made them targets of ridicule, and even persecution, but the accumulation of individual wealth when not hindered by a corrupt and repressive system.
I'll add another:
HEALTHY TO BORDERLINE OBSESSIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MONEY OVER TIGHT-KNIT FAMILY GATHERINGS. Many American subcultures find this crass but as young children, we are often told to earn pocket-money rather than accept allowances, made to understand long-term investments and pay-offs (education in a profession, training, running a business,) discussing about property and real estate, and driven to compete with one another. Sometimes it could be funny, as Chinese people hoard those little ketchup packets or napkins by the drawer-full, but carefully choose a single big-ticket status symbol like a McMansion, haggled wisely of course. By junior high, I found that compared to most peers, my Chinese-American friends were more sophisticated in understanding tax breaks, deductibles, insurance benefits, refurbished items, and the value-added concept, even if they were studying to be professionals and not merchants. It's not "cool" but there you have it.
SWAP WITH FRIENDS, SELL IT HIGHER TO SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW.
I had a neighbor whose parents indulged him with every new toy, whether or not we had the same thing. (My parents told us to invite him over often and share his toy.) Another neighbor who lavished snacks of every variety. (My parents made us plant fruit trees and eat from it...and then sell the extra fruits to the neighbors.) When we went to their friends' home, we kids had to help wash their cars, hoe the garden, clean their home for free... and their kids helped us paint the fence, walk the dog, etc. With close friends, we traded board games, shared carpools, and swapped books to reduce our costs. With strangers, we sold what they wanted: sold sandwiches at school, sold ice-pops, sold recycled bottles. It took me twenty years to realize that in fact our house was the most expensive one on the block and my parents were well-off, it certainly didn't feel like it!!
NEVER OVERBURDEN YOUR CIRCLE OF TRUST, REAL MONEY COMES FROM OUTSIDE. Chinese modesty does not allow children to simply accept money from a family member without much protest, insistence that we do not deserve it, and an offer to reciprocate or pay-back the generosity with a promise to wisely put that money away for a real need. Borrowed money absolutely must be returned, sometimes with the concept of interest (though the lender-family/friend should be modest to wave away such a thought.) The idea is that legitimate money is earned not from parents/own friends but from the "outside" world. This seems ethnocentric, but it seems that Chinese culture is quite open to befriending those who have similar money habits (note: Jewish, Indian, etc.)
IT'S MATH, MY FRIEND
There's rarely a traditional Chinese family that will not stress academic achievement, particularly competence in the sciences, engineering, and maths. Unlike convention, Chinese subculture sees its mastery as a product of discipline and dogged effort, not a "inborn talent." Actually, besides a sharpened logic process, facility with numbers results in a culture that is more likely to tackle savings, complex tax break-downs, informed financial investments, and payback more shrewdly than the math flunk-out who never liked hard, real data to begin with.
...I guess it's no surprise. A disproportionate number of us deftly find friends who share the same values. By my own admittance for the sake of this blog, my best friends will be Jewish-Russian, Jewish-Mexican, Japanese-Chinese, Indian, Polish-American... it just turned out this way.
PS. nowadays salary isn't as much of a casual conversation topic in the most capitalist zones of China, as the wealth gap becomes more apparent that info causes resentment or envy. Word gets around though. Within one's own family, however, it becomes a point of reference and competition marker.
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) is part of AmeriCorps now, and the actual website is the same as the AmeriCorps site. I'm not sure what that link you've got with VISTA in this post is, but it's NOT the Volunteer in Service to America program's site.
To begin with, there's a ton of articles on the internet that explain ways people sell counterfeit items and make astronomically huge amounts of money. Let's say, selling counterfeit art???
We're Jewish and most of our family gives money as gifts. For the holidays, sometimes we also get gift cards to stores that we frequent (Trader Joe's is popular...everyone needs food). For our wedding, we got mostly money. The gifts came at the shower.
I don't like the idea of sharing salaries. Even our parents and siblings don't know our exact salaries!! It's no one's business, really. Occasionally we share this information with friends who might be in the same field as us, because it's relevant, especially for companies that have pretty "set" salary tiers...it's always nice to know what to expect in terms of salary if you switch companies.
To me, sharing salaries invites opinions and/or expectations, especially since we like to save and so many others like to spend. How many times have you heard someone gripe about feeling that someone is stingy on a gift or just doesn't like to spend their money? Just the other day I was reading an advice column with a woman ("little sis") complaining about how generous she'd been with her nephew, but her "big sister" gives inexpensive gifts even though big sis's family is "well off". So maybe the "well off" sister feels it's more important to save, but she's judged for not giving expensive gifts, since the other sister deems her "able to afford it". If little sis didn't know big sis's salary, she might just assume that's all big sis could afford and then maybe even adjust her own giving accordingly, right?
My husband's coworkers used to call him "moldy money" because he wasn't in the habit of eating out at lunch (unless it was a birthday or special occasion) and he drove a 7 year old car. One of the higher ups atually commented, "We pay you enough. Why don't you get a new car?" even though his car only broke down once while working there and he had reliable back up transportation (my car) so it didn't interfere with his job duties.
When my hubbie and I first shacked up we rented a place for $275 a month. We had no furniture except for a bed and dresser, so the living room could be politely described as barren. We had no car. We had no phone. We had no appliances except for the stove and frig. We also didn't have heat or air. What we had were lots and lots of potatoes - mostly fried and sometimes with an onion. We didn't have to walk to school, up hill, in the snow, both ways though. We were lucky like that.
Over time we've managed some furniture, a car, and even a phone, though I hate it and rarely answer it. So, don't bother calling. My point is that I get that we *could* live in misery to sock away cash, but I much prefer my current creature comforts admittedly afforded to us debt-free by years of denial. Many days I thought about the regret I would feel if I died cold.
I might be a hard ass and point out that people could apply the 1950s model of misery. I've done it including a 6 mo stint with the in-laws. What I don't get is suggesting an expensive move across country where the cost of living is lower, and perhaps the standard of living as well. These places usually have depressed economies that can't support their current residents. Would you really leave your family, friends, support systems and all that is familiar to live in a county that only recently was routed for 911 service but didn't yet have telephone service?
I believe the best return you can get for your own time and work is to build you own home. The returns are well above any returns you can achieve in other investments of time and money. Doing this removes that 800 pound gorilla that exists in so many peoples lives, The Mortgage.
While I applaud everyones efforts to save with food shopping, etc. I see this as rearranging the deck chairs while the real project is to fix the gapping hole in the financial ship, that big fat mortgage payment.
Building your own home is to me the true shortcut to financial and personal freedom. Channel your money and personal time and effort to this goal first, and then you have many extra resources to devote to the other important parts of your life.
Regarding mattresses...I've never really understood this. I mean, we all sleep in hotels...who knows what's been done there? Indeed, it feels like the chance of creepy things going on is greater in hotels, especially because people don't have to worry that they're crudding up their own beds.
I sleep on a used mattress, and the cost is like 100x lower because people get so creeped out by it. I guess that's just me though. I couldn't afford a nice bed otherwise...I'd rather sleep on something that's slightly disturbing than something that's horribly uncomfortable.
To Andrew - Comment 12
Writers don't see money from library books or used books. Musicians don't see money from used CDs. Seamsters (a totally made up word intended to be non-gender specific) don't see money from used clothes. Buying used will always cut someone off from a potential source of income. OTOH, a whole new group of typically non-corporate local folks have a new source of income from their used items. Buying new also begs the question of what should happen with old games people don't want any longer but still work?
I'm glad you posted though. In spite of my slanted comment, I've been struggling with this ethical question since college.
I don't really have anywhere to brew the ale right now, space is a major issue in our current tiny home. But, it's something I desperately want to try. A good friend of mine brews his own beers and they rock. I also went to a beer convention and tasted some amazing Bourbon Stouts. One day, the Paul Michael brewery will be open. One day...
Has anyone tried equitygenie? I looked at the UFF software, and the program appears to be great, but I can't see paying the $3500.00 cost if the other less expensive programs work the same way? Any list of other comparable software and reviews?
No one has mentioned the possibility of brewing your own. If you are like me eventually you will be able to brew beers and ales that you prefer over most brands.
The cost and enviromental benefits are fabulous.
I can brew a 5 gallon batch (50, 12oz bottles or over two cases) for approximately $15 or less. I have spent less than $250 on equipment and I am developing a terrific appreciation and understanding of beers and ales from this hobby.
Here are the ingredients and costs:
1. Malted barley- milled it will cost you anywhere from $.60 to $2.00 per pound- depending on the recipe you may need 6 to 15 pounds.
2. Hops- well these have gotten quite expensive lately but certainly last year you could buy them for $10 a pound or about $.65 an oz and you may use anywhere from 1.5 to 6 oz. They now are costing in the $2./ oz range, but the price will come down with the next crop.
3. Water- you have that- it may need a little conditioning- a complex subject, but my tap water works fine- I add a bit of Calcium Sulfate for hardness, but that cost about $.20 or less for a tablespoon.
4. Yeast: this miraculous micro-organism will turn the fermentable sugars into alcohol and flavors. You can get packet yeast for $2.00 or get the specialized Wyeast packets or White Labs vials for about $6- but you can pitch it several times and get 20 gallons out of a single vial- Then too if you live near a brew pub they may even give you yeast.
Equipment is a mashing vessel, a 6 gallon or large SS pot, a cook stove, and a glass carboy or bucket fermentation vessel. Recycle you bottles or get the re-usable Golsch-type bottles and brew away.
You are recycling bottles, using only the shipping/energy costs of the hops and grains. Supporting agriculture and maltsters. Some resources are at www.beertown.org- site of the American Homebrewers Association.
Cheers
SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
This caught my eye because I just wrote about how I was taken advantage of by a debt management scam. I think you have a great list of tips to help find legitimate help. Wish I would have read this years ago!
Most of my nice leather shoes and boots were purchased at garage sales/thrift stores, no problem. I don't even look at new ones. And the best clothes dryer I ever had was a $15 used gas one that lasted years. Since my goal is to spend almost nothing on entertainment, I don't keep up with the Jones' regarding electronic stuff, meaning I have old radios, TV's, VCRs that still work fine. I'd never buy furniture new again for sure.
...is dealcatcher.com. They list coupons, web deals, and also special sales.